Thursday, October 30, 2014

I love this painting. I originally bought it as a present, but decided to keep it for myself.
I stumbled across this blog, Lisa Daria Blog by accident one day and have been following her ever since. I urge you to go and look at all the beautiful paintings she makes EVERY day. You will be inspired and peaceful after you look at all these gems. It's hard to choose just one!

We also got some very exciting news yesterday, my daughter and her husband are having a baby boy! Everyone is so excited and happy for them!
We have already talked about the quilt and I like the colors she is choosing, aquas, blues, greens and grays. I may be making another bowtie pattern too.
We are two happy grandparents and look forward to welcoming grandchild #5 into the fold!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

There is something wonderful about the crispness of a red and white quilt. I started this last winter using the Quick Curve Ruler.I would like to use it during the Christmas holiday so I decided I better get going. I am calling it Peppermint Patty.

I made 81 blocks and thought that would be enough, because they are rectangular I decided to make it a bit longer.

So I have to make 9 more blocks. I am glad I made it scrappy so I don't have to worry about running out.

In keeping with my red and white theme today, I found these (I think French) towels with the initial "M" on it! I could not pass them up. I also got 2 others that are very similar and may use them as a background like it did for this little gem.

I also found this cool tea towel that I will be giving to my SIL Jan for Christmas. She lives in Houston and loves everything Mexican! All my linens are soaking in a bucket of Restoration.

I hope those of you living on the East Coast are enjoying this beautiful fall day!

Monday, October 27, 2014

On Friday I started a quick project that will hopefully be something we use at our Penn Oaks Quilt show in the spring. It's a fabric bowl that will be used to hold sewing themed cookies.

It's kind of hard to photograph, but I think you get the idea. It is a little more floppy than I like but that's because I ran out of the proper interfacing and just wanted it to be done. I will be making more of these. How fun to come up with fabric combinations. It's one of those projects that takes longer to cut out than to sew.

You can find the pattern at a blog called A Cuppa and A Catch Up.. It is a very simple pattern but the best part is there are lots of ways to customize it. I made a simple straightforward one to see if I get the OK from the quilt show committee before I make any more. The other nice thing about this pattern is, you are given the formula to make them in all different sizes! These would also make nice gifts or storage for your sewing room, baby shower gifts........ the ideas are endless.

I always loved Janis Joplin (and Mama Cass also) and was surprised when I went into the post office and saw these stamps.

Check out how this looks like a 45 in the jacket. See the faded "edge" of the record, just the way a very well used jacket looked. What a great detail!

I am coveting these stamps and only sending them on special mail. Love the rose colored glasses!

This weekend the Meanix family went to Linvilla Orchards for their fall extravaganza.

Apple slingshots were by far the most favorite of activities.......as always it became a competition.

Even the little kids loved it.

For $5 you got a bucket of 20 apples to shoot out into the field. We got 4 buckets, if the boys had their way we would still be there! A great way to use up less than perfect apples.

Some silliness too....

We are coming up on almost a year of getting together every month. So far everyone enjoys seeing each other and catching up. As they grow up and schedules fill I hope they will always remember these golden days.

Friday, October 24, 2014

One of the absolute best things about blogging is all the people you get to meet from all walks of life and from all over the world. It also exposes you to all kinds of quilting and techniques that maybe you would have never discovered on your own.
Yesterday I met up with Helen of Til We Quilt Again. Her guild was meeting in Lancaster for a retreat this weekend. They were headed to Burkholder's Fabric Store, so where else are quilters going to meet? I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Helen in person and also got to meet some of her friends. I know it won't be the last time.
Of course fabric was purchased but we will just let the picture speak for itself.......

Thursday, October 23, 2014

My sew together bag is finished! The best part is the big scary zipper was pretty easy and not as hard as the smaller zippers!

I did some hand sewing on the big zipper as I did not feel confident enough to do it by machine. I was happy with the red and white binding and did not want to have to rip it out!

I like how wide it opens up and there are 7 places to put things.

And you get to use lots of fabrics!
There is a tutorial at a blog called Quilt Barn. Truthfully I don't think I would have been able to make it without this tutorial. There are also many blogs that have different tips that you can find if you Google them.
I do think I will make some more now that I have it somewhat figured out. Think of all the fabric combinations to be explored!

The pattern is called the Sew Together Bag and it is by Sew Demented.
You can buy the pattern here.
Most of the fabrics I used were from a layer cake called Marmalade from Bonnie and Camille.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

And it's not the first time and probably won't be the last time.....I am sure many of you have seen the Sew Together bag all over blog land. At first it didn't strike me as something I HAD to make. The more I saw it the more I NEEDED it. Is it the wear down effect, or am I easily influenced?

I love all the compartments to hold all kinds of sewing things. This will be perfect for getaway/retreats where you need to bring a million things and they are all in one place.

The best part is picking out all the fabrics! The pattern calls for fat quarters but I was able to use a layer cake and get all my pieces cut. For the exterior I chose to piece mine, but if you went for one fabric you would have to use a fat quarter.

I love the polka dots on the sides, they make me happy! Those nasty edges will be covered up with binding.

The zippers on the inside were not hard to do at all. Just some patience and slow sewing got the job done.
All I have left to do is the big scary zipper on the outside, yes I am procrastinating......

I will do another post when it is finished and give you more details about a tutorial and some places to find tips if you are thinking of making one. I already have some other fabric combos in mind.....

Friday, October 17, 2014

Have you tried Massdrop? I have bought a couple of things and so far am very happy. No shipping charges on anything!
When the Sew Steady Sewing table came up I hesitated but eventually went in on it.

The table is much bigger than I thought it would be. It's 22 1/2" x 25 1/2" a perfect size for workshops and getaways.

This is a nice feature I have not seen before, a sliding drawer for pins and other small notions. If you look to the right, I dropped it when I opened it and broke the edge )-:

It also comes with this nice padded carrying case and a place to put the legs. I am a satisfied customer. If it comes up again I would recommend it. They will ask you the make and model of your sewing machine to get the insert cut out perfectly. There is a grid that goes on the top. I know I will mess that up so I will let my husband do that for me.

How cute is this fabric? I just had to have some and will be sharing.

This is our book club pick for next month. I love this book and am so happy to be reading it again. Have you read it? Did you like it? It will be a good discussion book too. Is there anything better than anticipating a good book? Well maybe anticipating a day of sewing.......

Thursday, October 16, 2014

As much as I like modern quilting I also love vintage things. In many ways they feel very modern and cutting edge.

I had these vintage star blocks hanging around for a while and as much as I like them, there was a reason they were blocks and not a quilt. Every block was a different size and not one of them were a square!

notice the cut off point of the blue triangle

That made me love them all the more. It meant I could have a carefree sewing day (once they were squared up) and not worry about matching points or even centers of blocks.

This was the only block with a strong red print, so I put it in the center, otherwise I let them go together with almost no thought.
This is my nod to the modern part, I quilted it with random straight lines, and a nod to the vintage part in that they all are not straight or perfect.

It needed a back that complimented the front. I didn't want to use up a good piece of vintage fabric and found this in my stash, perfect!

I spent way longer than I thought searching for a binding. All along I was planning on a solid probably lightish blue. Nothing solid looked right, they were all too harsh and I wanted it to reflect the fabrics. So out came the vintage stack. This one practically called my name.

I think this is a good match with both the front and the back!

So here is the final product. Runners are the worst to photograph!

I took a leap of faith and threw it in the washer and dryer. I love all the texture and it feels soft, just like an old quilt. I am thinking it has more to do with the fabric than the batting??
I makes me happy to take someone's orphan blocks and turn them into something useful. I also enjoy that vintage vibe they give off and will look forward to putting this on the table.
This little project has given me lots of ideas.....